I've Got You
by fredsmith
Summary: Piper goes after Cyclonis and the repair crystal, only to find what she really used it for. Femslash. Title change, I like this one better.
1. Chapter 1

Author Note: Rough first start, sorry if it's no good. I own nothing

Summary: Piper goes after Cyclonis and the repair crystal only to catch a glimpse of what she truly used it for.

I've Got You.

Piper couldn't tell if she was more shocked or sad. _This_ is what she had ransacked the Condor for? _This _is what she had beaten the guys for? Cyclonis sat looking with the strangest longing at what, in Piper's mind, had to be _the _creepiest mother daughter moment in history. She stood hidden in the shadows transfixed by the cold stare of the late master Cyclonis.

'I've never seen eyes so devoid of compassion'

Eventually Piper's gaze moved from the chilling visage to the girl, clinging to the leg of her seemingly unaware mother, clutching a raggedy looking doll of some type. She looked, almost, _cute _in the snapshot, the smallest little smile gracing her young features. Piper couldn't be entirely sure but it looked as if she were tentative about the affection she was receiving. The blue haired girl couldn't imagine that the ice witch before was very nurturing as a parent, but the sweet smile on _her_ Cyclonis' face led her to believe otherwise.

The hologram died out in a bright light leaving only the dim ambience of the room behind. Silhouetted by the soft glow emitted by the crystals, the most feared person in all of Atmos knelt, tears flowing in silent rivulets down her cheeks. Piper felt her own tears prickling behind her eyes. Cyclonis looked so fragile, so young. If she hadn't known Lark, she would have never been able to reconcile this poor girl, with the heartless, sadistic woman she fought with so often.

Cyclonis wiped her eyes free of the last remnants of her weakness, then stood, her body retaking the rigidity of an iron fisted ruler.

"Enjoy the show did you?" her soft voice floated across the room, venom palpable in every syllable.

Piper slinked out from her hiding place behind one of the room's strange constructs.

"That's why you took the repair crystal?" Piper thought she did a good job hiding the incredulity in her voice. A flash of movement and Piper felt a hard object impact her chest. Cupping her hands she caught the small green crystal as it fell.

"You have what you came here for, now be gone." Cyclonis turned her back to Piper once again, her features tightening to prevent another bout of pathetic sobbing.

"You really loved her didn't you?"

Whirling enraged to face her adversary she spat "Of COURSE I loved her, she was my MOTHER."

Putting out her hands in a gesture of peace Piper tried to soothe the irate girl. "I'm sorry that was stupid of me, it's just, from the hologram, I got the feeling that she, maybe wasn't the …warmest …caregiver in Atmos"

The goth girls shoulders slumped, "My mother was a powerful woman, a great women, I'll be lucky to amount to even half of what she was! She NEVER showed weakness, she was a flawless idol for all her subjects to worship unquestioningly. So what if she didn't shower me with affection like other children's parents, I knew she loved me and that's all that matters. "She glared menacingly at the tanned girl before her, daring her to disagree.

"She was your whole world wasn't she?" Piper couldn't tell if she was touched or unnerved. "To lose her at such a young age must have been absolutely awful for you." Piper spoke softly, slowly approaching Cyclonis.

The ebony haired girl tensed to an almost painful degree. Her teeth clenched and her eyes closed tight, obviously fighting back tears. "My mother would never have forgiven me if I had shamed her passing with my weakness, so I didn't, I moved on honoring her in the only acceptable way." She raised her pale hand and clenched it into a fist. "By conquering all of Atmos!" Master Cyclonis' purple gaze lit with rage and the slightest hint of madness as darkness tainted her voice.

Piper moved another cautious step closer to the maniacal ruler. "Cyclonis, you can't just push aside your grief like that. You have to deal with it; you have to let it out, to let yourself heal. I'm surprised you've kept it together as well as you have."

The dark leader of Cyclonia flew at Piper pinning her to the cold steel wall. "YOU DON'T KNOW ME! You don't know anything about me! How dare you presume to…?"

Grabbing Cyclonis by the shoulders she jerked her around swapping their positions "But I do know you _Lark,_ after all 'you can learn a lot about someone in just a few short hours' isn't that right?" The goth girls violet eyes narrowed dangerously. Before she could act though, Piper continued, "I know that your lonely, I know that what you really, desperately want is a friend, someone who cares about you, and someone who loves you. I know that you still have a hole in your heart where your mother was." Cyclonis twitched and tensed, once again fighting back the violent sobs that threatened to rip through her. Piper pulled her gently into a loose embrace and whispered soothingly into her ear. "Most importantly, I know that, despite all you've done, to me, to my friends, to the people of Atmos, I'd still like to be that friend." Cyclonis' eyes drifted closed as she leaned slightly into Piper's warm embrace. A soft sigh escaped past the dark ruler of Cyclonia's lips, breaking the mood in the room as surely as an energy blast. Before she could even fully grasp what had happened, Piper was surrounded by a violet aura and thrown violently across the dank chamber. She hit the ground rolling, narrowly dodging a bright orange blast that left a crater where her head was mere moments before,

"You don't care about ME!" The ebony haired girl screeched. "NO ONE cares about ME!" she fired another couple of blasts out of the orange crystal in her palm. "My mother was the only one who ever cared about me! She told me about people like you, enemies looking to eliminate me, rivals looking to dethrone me, peasants looking to use me for my power! All of you are the same." Another blast.

"Cyclonis! No!" Piper dove out of the way again "I just want to –WHAA--help you!"

"LIES! Nothing but LIES!" Cyclonis seemed to lose the last of her self control. Her eyes went wild and dark. She sprayed forth frothing purple and orange energies out of the crystals in her palms, seemingly at random. Taking cover behind the heavy metal piece Cyclonis had tossed aside earlier, Piper sat gasping for breath, looking on in awe at the destruction being wrought in this pitiable girls blind rage. Through the flashes of purple and orange light Piper could barely make out streaks of moisture running down her attacker's cheeks.

'Shit, what am I going to do? If I try to move in on her I'll probably get blasted.' A bolt of crystal energy smashed into her makeshift shield. 'But if I stay here I'm definitely done for!' A few more blasts crash against her metal barrier. Pulling out her crystal staff, Piper took a deep breath 'Here goes nothing!' Leaping in a tight back flip the dark skinned girl flew out from behind her metal barrier. Striking her crystal staff at the ground, she fired a blast of concussive force that propelled her up enough to dodge a spattering of orange and purple energy blasts. Twisting in the air Piper brought her staff to bear on the out of control ruler. Moments before impact Piper felt herself stop falling. She had been trapped in the same violet aura as before.

'Damn, that's not good.'

With a flick of her wrist Master Cyclonis sent Piper reeling into the pile of crystals that had caused all this fuss. Piper hit hard against the small outcropping. She sat dazed for a few moments before realizing that the psychotic waves of crystal power had stopped. Looking up she caught Cyclonis staring a something directly over her shoulder, transfixed. Piper turned and was faced with… her face. It was a picture of her; she seemed to be laughing uproariously at something, tears trailing out of her closed eyes. Tentatively Piper reached out to touch the little teal gem again. The picture shifted to her, standing ready for battle her staff in held aloft in front of her. Another touch, she saw herself hanging upside down in her Sky-copter, her face a mask of concentration. Slide after slide it was the same. Her, leaning over some new crystal experiment she was working on, curiosity bright in her amber eyes. Her, sitting at a table just smiling serenely, seeming content with the world. Her asleep and peaceful, looking innocent and dead to the world. Her, looking questioningly into the distance, as if working out some great mystery.

Cyclonis drifted slowly towards Piper, a certain… fragility in her steps. Passing by the blue haired girl without so much as a glance she summoned the crystal into her hands and clenched it tightly to her chest. Ignoring Piper's questioning stare she turned away from the other girl.

Finally she managed to speak, her voice small and wounded. "Please just… just go. Please."

Piper took a small step forwards, her arms reaching out slowly. Seeming to think better of it, she let her arms fall to her sides as she turned for the cruel looking archway she had entered from. Supporting herself lightly on the black construct she turned her head to look at the completely immobile ruler of Cyclonia.

"You don't have to be alone Lark."

Cyclonis stood stock still until the trailing fall of footsteps finally faded. She dropped quietly to her knees, finally letting her sobs overtake her.


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: It has come to my attention that there may be some inaccuracies in my story thus far. For the sake of the story and reader's sanity, assume that everything not totally canon is artistic license on my part and try to ignore it. Also the femslash should get steadily stronger from here, so if you have a problem with that, chapter 1 could easily be a one-shot.

I've Got You.

Chapter 2

"UGH! Could they BE any bigger slobs!?" Piper groused as she bent down to pick up another misshapen mass of _something _from the deck of the Condor. Tossing it into the waste bin she glared menacingly at Finn and Junko where they lay, passed out on the floor of the bridge, chip bags and crumbs spilled out around them. Stalking over to the inert Storm Hawks, Piper pulled a palm sized, maize colored crystal out of her storage pouch. Slotting the crystal into her staff she brought it to bear on her slovenly teammates.

"**BWAAAAAAAAAN!!!" **The crystal emitted a cacophonous noise shocking the boys awake with terrified screams. Shooting straight into the air, their hair standing on end, they could do nothing to stop themselves from falling in a heap on top of one another. Radarr shot up from the chip bags he was using as a blanket and gripped petrified to the ceiling. Scanning with wild, panicked eyes the two "elite Sky Knights" scrambled to get up enough to face whatever was attacking them, only to find themselves becoming more and more tangled up.

Piper was enjoying herself thoroughly.

"Bwah ha ha ha…hoo, y-you should of – aah ha ha! -- s-seen the looks on your faces!" Piper laughed hysterically, tearing up in jubilation. "Oh what would I do without you guys?" Piper wiped away the tears from her eyes. Glaring mightily at their female squad mate, the two boys righted themselves trying to preserve what little dignity they had left.

A green streak flew by in front of Finn sending him sprawling again. "We're under attack! Man the guns, get to your Skimmers, PRAY!" He gripped the controls tightly, ready to evade their attackers.

"Stork, calm down dude, it was just Piper messin' around with us!" Junko tried placating the startled Merb before he started on "evasive maneuvers".

Turning to face them he braced himself on the on the console. "Just …messing… around? So, a fleet of Cyclonian Death Cruisers aren't coming to blast us into a million tiny pieces, casting our remains to the far reaches of the Atmos?" The three teens shook their heads slowly. "Oh he-he, oops…"

"Well now that that's taken care of, so is this mess… by _you!_" Piper stated, pointing to the piles of bags and crumbs before turning to saunter off to her quarters.

"I knew the mega-mondo-super-ultra chip scarfing marathon wasn't the best idea ever."

Crossing into her sanctuary, Piper moved to the small chest she carried out most of her crystal experiments on. Opening the medium sized cupboard underneath it, she set the small Sonic Emitter crystal into its labeled stand. She then took a quick mental inventory of the rest of her little collection. 11 icer crystals, 7 boomers, 8 burners, 5 explosion stones well away from the 9 slime crystals, 1 image capture stone seated next to the small green repa…

"**Damn it!!!" **Piper shouted slamming the cupboard closed, the meticulously ordered crystals jangling as they fell. She backed up until she hit the tall dresser behind her. The dark skinned girl slid down it until she was in a sitting position.

'This isn't right!' She thought to herself, feeling almost scandalized at the thoughts that raced through her every time she looked at the small verdant gem.

'She's the enemy! She's tried to kill me, my friends, everyone I've ever cared about more times than I can count! I should hate her!' Hugging her knees to her chest she let out a small shuddering sigh. 'I just…can't though. She's no older than we are, but she's so bereft of any kind of happiness. I wish I could help her," Piper hugged her knees, curling into herself as if to protect from a strong chill. "Show her that not everything has to be violence and conquest. What can I do though?'

Realizing that these thoughts were getting her nowhere fast, Piper struggled up and went back to her small cupboard, it needed to be reorganized after her little out burst. Opening the door she rolled her eyes at what had to be fate's way of screwing with her. At the very top of the pile of gems, the image capture crystal she used to store pictures she felt her teammates need not be privy to, was set up as if enthroned. Picking it up irreverently, Piper moved to sit on the edge of her bunk. She slotted the crystal into her staff, a flash of teal light showing from its tip. After a moment, the stunning fluorescence solidified into a distinct picture. The snapshot showed Piper and Dove, hand in hand, smiling brightly as they explored the beaches of Terra Tropica. Amber eyes softened at the sweet memories of her first, short romance. She and Dove had wandered the scenic Terra for hours, basking in each others presence, sharing small kisses and reveling in the beauty of the land. It had almost hurt to go back to the Storm Hawks, but so goes the life of a Sky Knight.

A slight tap of the crystal had the image shifting. This one showed Piper leaning back into the intimate embrace of the Absolute Zero's squad leader, a happy grin lighting her features. She giggled as the phantom whiskers tickled her cheeks, just as they had then. This had been a longer, more…mature relationship than the ones she had had before it. Piper felt that she might even have loved Suzy-Lu, but circumstances never gave her a chance to really explore it. Once the mission in Blizzaris was over, they both had squadrons to return to and people to protect. They carried on their relationship for as long as they could but eventually realized they would never be able to get past the physical distance and had to break it off.

Piper's palms began to sweat as she touched the crystal to show the next slide. Her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes rimmed with tears at this final picture. This shot was of Lark, before she had known the sweet girl was really Master Cyclonis. It was the only shot on this crystal that had only a single subject. Taken of the faux-blonde while she was obviously unaware, Lark looked as if she was on the verge of passing out laughing. She had this… unrestrained look of pure glee about her. Piper finally let the tears pooling in her eyes fall; she had never seen that look grace her features again, but she wanted to, desperately. The normally even-keeled tactician had fallen hard for the girl with the pretty blonde hair and the wide, innocent blue eyes. She was sure that her feelings were reciprocated too. But no, it had all been a trick, nothing more than an attempt by Master Cyclonis to get her to betray her friends.

She had hurt so bad for so long after that, she had felt as if her heart had been ripped out by those long pale fingers. She recovered, convincing herself that Cyclonis was just a monster, that the easy companionship they had was all just a part of her plan, that no part of Lark existed in the cruel dictator, but some part of her was still stung at the betrayal.

All that got thrown out the window the moment she entered that stupid chamber looking for the repair stone. In Cyclonis' crouched, crying form she had seen that same spark of humanity and innocence that had enraptured her so with Lark. In that moment all the effort she put into forcing the dark girl out of her heart was for naught. It wasn't an act, it wasn't calculated to make Piper trust her, it was Cyclonis, letting herself be soft and kind and vulnerable for a few short hours. The realization had her sobbing uncontrollably into her pillow for hours that night. Cyclonis wasn't really evil, but what did that mean now?

Her musings were interrupted but Stork's voice booming over the intercom. "I uh, think everyone should report to the bridge, now!" Sighing Piper forced herself to stand. Casting a last glance back to her the little teal gem, she began meandering towards the bridge. Approaching her destination she saw her teammates gathered around the communications array.

"Reports are coming in of rebel elements in the Cyclonian government gaining power recently as Master Cyclonis has once again withdrawn for an indeterminate amount of time. Our sources indicate that widespread unrest amongst Cyclonia's general populace has come as a direct result of the recent, and repeated, failed attempts to defeat the Sky Knights known as the Storm Hawks." Stork shut off the feed and turned to face his teammates.

"This is perfect!" Aerrow exalted to the bewildered stares of his teammates. "Just think about guys, Cyclonis is our most powerful single enemy right? If these rebel guys were to actually overthrow her she would lose her strongest weapons. Not only that, but if we were to help them overthrow her we would have leverage to demand a peace treaty from them, ending Cyclonia's attacks on the other Terras! We would have single handedly ended the war against Cyclonia, something not even the original Storm Hawks ever managed!" Aerrow's eyes lit with conviction as he saw in his minds eye a world untainted by the "evils" of Master Cyclonis.

"How are we gonna find these guys though?" Questioned Finn, surprised at his own insight. "I mean, it's not like they're just gonna be sitting around outside with an 'overthrow little miss evil dictator' sign waving around."

"Somebody has to know where, or at least who, these guys are. All we gotta do is find them." Aerrow's determination couldn't be shaken.

"Maybe the Colonel knows something. He might be willing to help out, you know, if he doesn't kill us." Junko suggested cautiously.

"Well, we could always head over to the Atmosian news broadcasters and see if they'll give us their source." Aerrow said.

"Great, all we have to do is charge head long into a wild goose chase, searching for a group of people who could theoretically be even more evil than Master Cyclonis, all while dodging agents of Cyclonia who are also undoubtedly seeking to cleanse these 'rebel elements.' I'm going to go rework my will now." Piped in Stork in his usual unhelpful manner.

As the boys bustled about, preparing for the upcoming mission, they missed their tactical expert leaning heavily on the wall of the bridge, green tingeing her dark skin. 'Overthrow Cyclonis? No way is she going to just let that happen.' She thought morosely. 'Her throne and that crystal are all she has left of her mother. The only way she would give it up would be if she was… if they…if….' A sudden flash of Lark, splayed out on the ground, blood pooling underneath her, her once beautiful violet eyes dull and lifeless, hit Piper like a punch. She took off towards the bathrooms, barely reaching her destination before violent retching overtook her. For several minutes she stood, expelling what felt like everything she had ever eaten into the porcelain bowl. Shaking, she wiped her mouth while moving to the sink to clean out the taste.

'I absolutely cannot let that happen to her.' Piper caught her own haunted eyes in the mirror above the sink. 'I know I can get to her if I try, I know it! I have to! She doesn't deserve that, no one does.' Piper's amber gaze hardened with determination.

'I swear to you Lark, I will save you, no matter what it takes.'

A/N: Expect the next update to be much slower, but longer than this one, and more femslash to come **;)**

'


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: Sorry about the long wait on the update, had to actually figure out where this story was going before I could write anymore of it. Got it down now hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed making it up.

I've Got You.

Chapter 3

Click-clickclick-click-click-clickclickclick-clickclick. The steady staccato beat of fingers against keys rang out loudly in the otherwise quiet chamber of Master Cyclonis. Standing at her crystal lab's control console, she was totally focused on her work.

"**BABOOOOOOM!!!"**

Or not.

"Damn it!" Cyclonis shouted recovering slowly from the explosion that had sent her careening across the room. "Damn her! Not even here and she can distract me to the point of absolute idiocy!" Sucking in a few calming breaths Cyclonis managed to forcibly reign in her growing frustration at the images playing on a constant, looping reel in her mind. Ever since _that day_ the young dictator of Cyclonia had been, if not obsessed than at least… preoccupied with a certain azure haired Storm Hawk.

At first she thought it was simply a tactical curiosity that drove her, a respect for a fellow crystal scientist. That was why she had created the blonde persona, to find out if _she_ was really as good as her reputation. She was, and then some. Without any books or any instructors _she_ had taught herself enough that Cyclonis could rank her easily in the top ten greatest crystal experts alive. It was almost awe inspiring.

On top of her rather prodigious crystal mastery, the girl was just so… disarming. Cyclonis couldn't help but feel comfortable around her after only a short time. She never intended to give the girl her real name, it simply came out of her, coaxed by _her_ openness. She also didn't mean to reveal that little tidbit about her not having many friends, but again _she_ seemed to be able to get her to give away anything she had with almost no effort. It was an alarming trait.

All of these strange things that seemed to happen around the blue haired girl had only managed to strengthen her infatu… her fascination. So she had begun sending small recording crystals along with her squadrons to get a better idea of her enemy's abilities. The first few films came in of he-them carrying out daring stunts and dangerous maneuvers, all while looking out for the safety of not only her-their squad mates, but the enemy's as well. The videos had only wet her appetite. Soon recording crystals had become standard issue pieces of all Talon and Nightcrawler armor.

Cyclonis had taken to, at the end of each day, painstakingly reviewing each and every crystal that came in. After larger battles, Cyclonis would stay cooped up in her room for days, just examining and reexamining from every angle, Pipe… The Storm Hawks every move. The dark master of Cyclonia had been shocked to the core at some of what she had seen. Saving enemy pilots, giving up rare and powerful crystals for the sake of a few nobody Terrans? It made no sense to her, but Cyclonis figured that to be a good guy thing and let it go.

The video that had come in most recently, one of the failed invasion of clockstopia, had rocked her world. It seemed at first as if it would be a simple mission, a raid on a defenseless Terra for their stupidly unused crystals. Watching it, she could almost feel her skin crawling with boredom as the nightcrawlers loaded up their loot. Then, just a few seconds before the end of the feed, something unbelievable had happened. She had had to re-watch the short segment over and over again until she could be sure of it, but it was true. There were two of _her_! One was dressed in her normal Sky Knight armor, attractive to be sure, but the other, the other was bedecked in finery fit for… well… herself, save for the color. They stood side by side at the mouth of the cave, light crystals in hand, that oh so _her_ look of seductive determination gracing both sets of angelic features. She had finished the tape, frozen with awe, blood flowing from both nostrils. TWO of _her_, two of _HER_, TWO OF _HER_! And that dress! Even with its garish colors it was beautiful! She could just imagine what it would have looked like in something better, more suited to her complexion, a blue maybe, no, red! A dark red. Yes, that would be perfect, a dark, almost blood red, with the emblem of Cyclonia positioned...

"No! Not again! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" She fell to the floor gripping her skull tightly with both hands,

She had to escape this room; she couldn't keep doing this to herself. This perversion would destroy her if she let it. Standing quickly she took off down the corridor, in search of something, anything to distract her. Nearly sprinting down the hallways of her huge castle, she almost missed the telltale scratching coming from one of the rooms off of the main drag.

Peaking into the large chamber the unidentified noise was coming from she spotted a rather squat, pudgy man pouring over a rather impressive stack of papers, his thick rim glasses perched firmly on the bridge of his nose. Slipping in silently, she quickly skimmed over the papers that seemed to have migrated away from the central pile and bred unrestrictedly. Law proposals, requisition forms, policy drafts, simple bureaucratic work it seemed. It would serve her purpose for a while.

"Good day regent." The master of Cyclonia greeted the bespectacled man coolly. Jumping almost out of his seat in shock he only barely managed to choke out an acceptable greeting.

"G-Good day M-Milady, what can I do for you this f-fine afternoon?"

Cyclonis' eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as she responded with practiced cruelty. "I am here to check up on the state of _**my empire. **_Is that a problem?"

Backing up slightly at the darkness in her voice the regent replied with, "Of c-course not Milady! It would be my honor!" Leafing quickly through his large stack of documents he came up with the most recent military census data.

"As of our latest inventory, Milady, 156 vessels of carrier size or larger, including 44 destroyers are airborne, with 27 new vessels including 4 new destroyers being slated to finish construction within the next 6 months. We also have currently 4,321 'Skimmer' class fighters as well as 2,422 'HeliScooter' class support fighters.

Our standing army is 35,000 soldiers strong with…"

"I am well aware of the state of the military _regent_; I was inquiring about the state of the general population."

"Sincerest apologies Milady, it is just that you normally do not, um, concern yourself with such matters." 'Normally my ass!' He thought somewhat venomously, 'You've never cared about the people before.'

"Well I am concerning myself _now_, so give me your report quickly or I will very soon be in need of a _**new**_ regent." The dark girl began to irradiate a slight violet aura in her building annoyance.

Mopping his brow with his handkerchief, the flustered regent raced to locate the general census data. "Ah, here it is Milady," he held up a thick folder of statistics.

"It appears that Cyclonia has just gone over the million person mark, a very impressive statistic considering that the average population of a civilized Terra is only a few thousand." Cyclonis appeared to be utterly unamused by his little anecdote. "Uh-hum, well, yes," The pudgy man's eyes followed his Lady carefully as she moved to sit at one of the high-backed chairs scattered around the table.

"General approval of imperial policy regarding conquest has been dropping steadily the last year and is currently at 48.65 percent. Many small factions championing peace have been cropping up and are beginning to gain strength. We have also been alerted to a small, well organized group of anti-imperials, who have kept very low profile thus far, but my have less than desirable goals in mind for the feature." He could feel the cold glare trained on him as he read and gulped audibly. He decided to move onto some statistics that might not get him hung. "The average family consists of 4 members, a mother, a father, and two children with an average income of right around 18,000 Cyclones per year. The poverty line as of now is 7,000 Cyclones per year, putting poverty at 19.85 percent, the highest it's been in centuries. Food is scarce in many of our colonies, leading to widespread colonial unrest and occasional riots. Unemployment in the colonies is at almost 35 percent, and even those who are employed rarely bring in more than 6,000 Cyclones a year. On top of this…" Not trusting herself to speak at this particular moment, Cyclonis put out her palm as a signal to stop. Taking a deep breath she began with a calm that made the hairs on the back of the regents head stand on end.

"I leave the running of the general populace to you for a mere two years and you _**run us into the ground! **_It could not have been more simple! All you had to do was maintain a working economy. Instead you…" The regent's indignance at being addressed as a fool by someone many times his junior finally overtook his fear of the Master of the land. "With all due respect Master Cyclonis, my powers as regent are very limited. I have many policies I would have liked to of enacted that could've guided the people through these hardships, but without the royal seal I have no power to do so! Before today you could never be bothered with the day to day operations of the empire, and without its ruler for this length of time, Cyclonia is bound to deteriorate!"

Glowing a violent violet, Master Cyclonis looked as if she was moments away from dissecting the impertinent whelp before her when an image of her mother lecturing her when she was little entered her mind.

_The most powerful woman in Cyclonia held a small crystal in her hand as she taught her daughter a great truth about ruling. "My daughter, one day you will rule in my stead, it is important that you be ready for it."_

"_Is that why I go to school a lot more than the other kids mama?"_

"_Very astute, it is exactly why you go to school longer than the other children. A good ruler must be knowledgeable in all things. All the knowledge in the world means nothing though, if there is no wisdom to guide it. And so we come to your lesson. The unnamed masses seem unimportant most times, I know, but they are your empire and as ruler, they look to you to guide them. People are fickle, however, they will love you one day and stab you the next, so a constant balance of power must be maintained."_

"_I don't understand mama."_

_Raising the dark blue crystal for her daughter to see, the ruler of Cyclonia clenched her fist around it._

"_The people of any empire are like an unstable crystal. If your grip is too hard for too long" The azure gem exploded violently in her palm._

"_They'll blow up in your face." She summoned another of the same crystal to her hand. "If your grip is too weak however," The older woman allowed the stone to rest on her palm. It appeared to disintegrate in her hand, blue dust falling between her fingers. "All that power will slip between your fingers." Catching her daughter's eyes she finished her diatribe. "A constant balance must be maintained, or it will be your end."_

Her grip on her empire had become too weak, and she was losing her power because of it. She would not forget her mother's wisdom again.

"Give me them then." The regent could only blink at this. "You said you had possible new policies drafted, I want them, give them to me _**NOW!**_" She shouted on the last syllable, the darkness backing her voice flowing over the frightened little man like an icy chill. Jumping to attention he seemed to gather the necessary forms as if conjuring them.

"Here you are Milady."

"_**Thank you.**_"

She watched as the nervous man scurried away from her as fast as he could. 'Running for new shorts I bet' Cyclonis snorted. Turning back to the papers in front of her, the dark ruler of Cyclonia could only sigh. 'All I wanted was for something to distract me from _her_, now I have paperwork." Buckling down, she read and reread all of the propositions left to her. The first called for the establishment of a minimum wage at 4 Cyclones per hour. Master Cyclonis was outraged, why not just hand them success on a silver platter!? No one would have to… go hungry. Cyclonis shot up from her seat, her eyes scanning wildly for the source of the familiar voice. When it appeared no one was there, she sat back down to her work. 'What the hell?!' The minimum wage proposal, in the time it had been since hearing the disembodied voice at her ear, had been increased to 7 Cyclones per hour.

"What on Atmos is going on here?!"

Now she was hearing _her_ voice coming from nowhere! Something had to be done about this! This perversion was literally driving her insane. It was time she took care of it once and for all.

'As soon as the paperwork is done, I think I'll pay a visit to my _**best friend forever!'**_

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A/N: Next chapter to have a bit more action. Enjoy!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: A short chapter immediately preceding one that is guaranteed over 4000 words. This one is just a lot of plot build up stuff. The next one is much better. Sorry. I would like to take a quick few seconds to thank the few reviewers I have had so far, **Caged Wolf Breaking Free; simmie; Aiden Fireheart, Sebulbasaur, and Paigey Lou. **If you have any questions about the story, either check my profile or leave me a review. Thank you!

On with the show!

I've Got You.

"Piper and I will go check the broadcasters while you and Finn go hit up the Colonel for any information he has, okay Junko?" Aerrow addressed his largest teammate.

"Loud and clear good buddy!"

"We'll reconvene on the Condor in 4 hours. Everyone move out!"

The Storm Hawks took to the skies in groups of two burning with either determination, or paralyzing apprehension.

One guess on who was the latter.

'Aerrow wants to help these guys overthrow Cyclonis, but Cyclonis won't let that happen. I can't let Cyclonis get hurt, but I can't fight the team on this either. I want Cyclonia to stop attacking everyone, but I want Cyclonis to be the one that stops them. What am I gonna DO?! Piper held herself stoic despite the battle raging in her mind.

"Piper ETA five minutes on the broadcast station… Piper? PIPER!" Aerrow's shout finally managed to shake Piper out of her stupor.

"Yeah uh yeah, I got it Aerrow."

"Are you sure you're okay Piper? You've been acting kinda weird lately."

"I…uh just haven't been feeling well lately, it's nothing to worry about. Probably just a cold or something." Piper tried to reassure her squad leader.

"Okay… if you're sure."

"Look there's the station!" Piper said attempting to divert Aerrow's attention back to the mission.

Focusing on the task ahead, the two touched down in front of the small building that housed the broadcast network. Dismounting their skimmers, Piper and Aerrow made their way inside, both hoping for good but radically different news.

Inside they found one wall dominated by a bank glass divider with just a single woman behind it. As they approached the desk, the small blonde greeted them amicably. "Good afternoon to you! How can I help you?"

"We heard the news cast this morning about Cyclonia. We need to know who sent that information here, immediately." Aerrow said in his most authoritative tone.

"Well, that's quite the coincidence. A man came in earlier to talk to the broadcast director but before he left he gave me this." She held up a small brown package. "And said, 'the Storm Hawks will be here eventually to question about the source, when they come give this to them.' And here you are!" The clerk handed the package to Aerrow who immediately tore it open, dropping a message crystal into his palm.

'Storm Hawks, if you receive this message that means you are interested in ending the reign of Master Cyclonis. If this is the case I would like to set up a meeting. In two days, at sunset we will be waiting at the following coordinates. If you are late, we will be gone.' The message went on to detail the location of the meeting and then ended.

"Thank you very much for your time." Piper thanked the clerk as she ushered Aerrow out.

"We found them Piper!" Aerrow exalted. "We found the guys who can help us take down Cyclonis! We're one step closer to finally beating Cyclonia!"

"I know that Aerrow." Piper responded, sounding skeptical. "Don't get your hopes up just yet."

"After all, it could just be a trap."

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On the opposite side of Atmos, Finn and Junko were just coming up on the Colonel's mansion. Entering the enormous structure the two friends greeted the still hostile bodyguards before stopping in front of the Colonel's large desk.

"Greetings Storm Hawks to what do I owe this…intrusion"

"Sorry to bother you Colonel, it's just we've heard some rumors floating around and we came to see what you knew about 'em"

"Ah, jes, you are of course referring to the so called, 'Rebel Cyclonian's' hm?"

"You've heard about them then?" Junko piped up excitedly.

"Of course I know, I am Atmos' premier… information specialist. I know everything that goes on here."

"Information specialist? I thought he was a gangster?" Junko stage whispered to Finn.

"Shut up Junko." Finn said back through violently clenched teeth.

"Jes… well I do haff some interesting tidbits I could share, for the right price." The Colonel said with a smirk.

Pulling off the pack on his back, Junko threw it into the center of the large room. The bag flew open revealing what had to be one hundred pounds of frozen yogurt.

"Very good! You come prepared to the party, jes?" Motioning for one of the muscular body guards to collect his prize the Colonel continued. "There is not much to know that would be of interest to you. I can however impart upon you that, even though they fight for similar goals to yourselves, they are still Cyclonians, be cautious in your dealings with them."

"That's it? Man so lame!" Finn was outraged.

"Thanks for your help Colonel." Junko cut in, covering his blond friend's mouth.

"Good-bye and good luck my friends." The Colonel called after the retreating forms of the Storm Hawks.

"You'll need it."

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I hated writing this chapter. It's SOOOOOOOO boring, no action, no romance, nothing.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Here we come to probably the most pivotal chapter of the story. I hope you all like it. I apologize for the last two chapters lacking either any kind of real action, but they were necessary and you'll see why soon enough. This chapter was originally intended to be chapter 4, but I got to 4000 words way to fast and I decided to split it off into chapter 5.

Here we go.** Note: **_**this font indicates Cyclonis' evil double voice.**_

I've Got You.

Chapter 5

"We've got incoming!" Stork shouted, his terrified voice ringing out in the bridge.

"What are we looking at Stork?" Aerrow called beginning battle prep.

"Doom." Aerrow didn't know if he was more frustrated with the lack of information or Stork's rather creepy matter of fact tone.

"Any Specific kind of doom?" Piper questioned rolling her eyes.

"The Doom-y kind." Withering looks all around.

"No one can take a joke." Stork sighed exasperated. "Ravess, Snipe, Dark Ace and Master Cyclonis. That enough to spell doom for you?"

"All of them at once? They've never done that before! What should we do?" Finn panicked.

"Cry?" In Storks mind it really was the best option at this point.

"Everyone to your Skimmers! We're gonna meet them head on!" Aerrow shouted with leaderly valor as he sprinted to the hangar.

"Oh man! Here we go again!"

"What's wrong Finn?"

"Come on Junko old buddy, you know what's gonna happen. I'll fight for a few minutes until something cuts my ride in half and fall crotch first onto one of you guys. It happens every single time."

"That doesn't happen every time Finn, I mean there was that one time...with the…you know… the thing? Okay it does happen every time."

"See what I'm sayin'? At this rate I'm gonna end up being sterilized!"

The Storm Hawks took flight with Aerrow in the lead, flanked in a V shape by Finn and Junko, with Piper bringing up the rear at a slightly higher altitude. They were in a perfect and intentional mirror of the enemy formation. Racing straight at each other it was an intense game of chicken, who would break formation first and leave themselves vulnerable for attack.

Piper knew something was wrong as soon as she got close enough to see Cyclonis smirking.

"WATCH FOR…" she began but it was too late, a bright light emitted from Cyclonis' skimmer and the charging Cyclonians disappeared.

**BOOM BOOM BOOM! **Blasts of crystal energy struck the Storm Hawks formation from behind. Cyclonis had teleported her and her allies behind the Storm Hawks and were now bringing their firepower to bear.

"Spread out! Try to maneuver them into a teammate's line of fire" Aerrow shouted firing a blue energy blast as he dove down, the Dark Ace hot on his tail.

"Roger!" called Junko veering hard left, narrowly dodging Snipes hammer.

"OH MAN!" Finn cried nearly taking one of Ravess' arrows to the back of his head as he pulled right.

Piper didn't say anything as she pulled her heliscooter into a tight backwards loop, trying to overtake Cyclonis with her superior maneuverability. Cyclonis wasn't so easily shaken however, managing to follow the blue haired girls move with only a slightly looser arc. Flipping right side up Piper hurled pell-mell into the thick clouds below them, hoping to shake off the dark ruler hurling bright purple energy blasts at her back.

Constantly dodging and ducking the lethal looking blasts Piper tried and failed to get Cyclonis off her tail. It wasn't long before Piper's frayed nerves forced her to acknowledge that for once, she wasn't the best pilot in the air. She had to get to ground. Up here it looked as if Cyclonis had an advantage but Piper knew from past experience that she dominated hand to hand. Spotting a small, flat false peak on the mountain in front of her, maybe 100 yards across and 80 or so yards wide, she brought herself in for a landing.

**KRAKOW!**

A lucky bolt struck Piper's left stabilizer sending her spiraling out of control. Using the wild spinning to her advantage she fired a shot into Cyclonis' upper right wing, the impact jarred the small fighter and sent it into its own downward spiral directly at the cliff face. Piper fought mightily with her controls pulling out every trick she knew to re-stabalize it. Cyclonis simply levitated herself safely away, unconcerned with the fate off her beleaguered craft.

"DAMMIT!" Piper cried as her heliscooter drew closer and closer to the cliff face. "Nothings working! SHIT! I don't think this was such a good idea anymore."

"Why don't you try this?" A soft, seductive voice whispered in her ear, sending chills down her spine. Long, strong arms topped by deceptively delicate, pale hands reached around the dark skinned girl, gently taking the controls from her grasp. Shifting the controls subtly Cyclonis brought the craft into a controlled slide on the small out cropping as Piper sat frozen by the warmth coming from the dark girl. With a gentle thump the scooter stopped at the wall where the outcropping ended and the mountain began.

Shaking herself from her stupor Piper noticed that Cyclonis wasn't holding h… on the small vehicle anymore. Grabbing a hold of her crystal staff Piper leapt from her wrecked heliscooter and landed in a ready crouch behind a seemingly unconcerned Cyclonis.

"It's been awhile since we've had a decent battle, hasn't it Piper?" Cyclonis' voice had an almost nostalgic air about it. Piper didn't respond, she was still waiting on Cyclonis' inevitable attack.

"I was quite impressed last time. You have a wonderful repertoire of techniques, and your crystal usage was impeccable." Cyclonis turned her head slightly to look back at her adversary with a single violet eye.

"… What was most remarkable, however, was the way you threw away those men's lives with absolutely no thought or concern."

Piper shifted out of her carefully balanced battle stance. "What on Atmos are you talking about?"

Spinning gracefully Cyclonis faced the shocked Shy Knight. "Oh, come now Piper, those men were barbarians, barely more then animals. What do you think 'capture' means to people like that… in relation to a female?"

Piper couldn't move, could barely breathe. "Y-you don't mean…"

"I mean that, given the opportunity they would have gleefully and repeatedly defiled me." Violet eyes glowed with suppressed rage. "I killed them_**. All **_of them_**.**_ They were doomed the moment they laid hands on me. In Cyclonia that crime is the worst any could commit. To even be accused is a death sentence. It is far better to let an innocent man die than a guilty man live."

Piper felt tears streak slowly down her cheeks. She was horrified, how could she have let this happen. God, even Cyclonis had to of been absolutely terrified. All those men, surrounding her, reaching for her, what they intended to do. Here she was, having promised to save Lark and already she had done more to destroy her than anyone else. The dark skinned girl nearly vomited from the self-disgust.

"Cyclonis…Lark I'm s-so sorry I d-didn't know, I d-didn't think I…"

"Of course you didn't know!" Cyclonis spat, violet aura glowing around her. "You live in a perfect little world where nothing the good guys do has any consequences, where all the badness in the world has a face and a name and nothing else can ever be cruel or evil. Well guess what Piper, you're wrong! You're actions have consequences, just like mine do! Do you know what the survival rate is for pilots you shoot down?" Piper barely managed to open her mouth to respond before Cyclonis plowed on.

"75 percent. That means out of every hundred pilots you take down, 25 fall into the jaws of some monstrous beast, or land in some inhospitable environment or have their chutes give out before they get low enough to the ground! You've killed just as many as I have, so don't you dare stand there and judge me!" Cyclonis was positively shaking at the end of her speech.

Piper didn't have any sort of response for this. Cyclonis was right, they never had thought about the consequences of their actions before. All they had ever seen were the evils the Cyclonians had wrought. None of that mattered right now though, not when Cyclonis had spun back around tears shining in the sunset. Before she had even truly thought about what she was doing, Piper's dark arms were circling the pale girl comfortingly.

"I'm sorry Cyclonis. I never meant for that to happen to you and it is unforgivable."

Piper paused tightening her arms around the deceptively frail girl. "But, you have to believe me, I would never do that to you on purpose Lark. I couldn't, believe it or not, I care about you. I…"

Piper was spiraling through the air before she even really knew what was happening.

"Sure you care about me! You care enough that you would send men to rape me! To destroy me! They weren't enough and neither are you."

'I have _got _to stop using the C word. I'll check the thesaurus when I get home.' Piper thought wryly regaining her footing.

"Now before I was so rudely interrupted, where was I?" Cyclonis strode towards Piper who once again raised her staff in a defensive position.

"Ah, yes, we were just coming to the part where I disarm you." The silver staff in the dark skinned girl's hands exploded rather violently. "And follow that up with showing you just what it means to fight like a _**girl.**_" Cyclonis hurled through the air striking out at the startled Storm Hawk with her left foot. Piper, unable to dodge, rolled with the blow, flipping through the air and landing some feet away. Cyclonis follow up attack was near instantaneous, leaving only enough time for Piper to clumsily roll right out of the way of the downward strike. Coming to rest on all fours a few yards away, Piper launched herself at the dark girl intending to tackle her into close combat. Cyclonis jumped nimbly above Piper's attack. Spinning in the air Cyclonis brought a fist into the Sky Knights back crashing her into the dirt. Landing gracefully (as odd as it seems given the situation) Cyclonis pinned the now winded girl to the ground.

"Still think you 'dominate hand to hand' little Piper?" Cyclonis whispered into the trapped girl's ear, a slight, mocking chuckle present in every syllable.

"You haven't won yet Cyclonis!" Piper shouted as the small force crystal she managed to work out of her pocket went off hurling them both into the air.

Landing rather ungracefully, both girls scrambled to recover their battle stances.

"Not bad, for a cheater."

Piper was flabbergasted. "Cheater?! Where do you get off on calling me a…"

"Well you don't see me using any crystals do you?" Cyclonis cut her off almost sounding petulant.

Piper was still trying to reconcile the fact that this was a life or death struggle, with Cyclonis acting like she had moved an extra space during her turn in a board game. "Well no, but…"

"So I don't think it would be fair for you to use your crystals when I'm not using mine, would it?" Cyclonis pressed on sweetly. "And I know all about you hero types and fairness, so here's what I'll do." She raised a glowing, violet fist in Pipers direction. "I'll just get rid of any _**temptation.**_" She opened her fist causing all the crystals concealed in Piper's armor to fly out and arrange themselves in a circle around the dark haired girl. Then, with a dismissive gesture they all exploded into small puffs of smoke. "We should be able to have a fair fight now."

Cyclonis once again leapt at her adversary punching and kicking with carefully calculated force. Piper was left on the defensive for long moments, unable to stop guarding long enough to give any offense of her own. Cyclonis dropped down to swipe Piper's legs out from under her, giving Piper her opportunity for counter attack. Leaping into the air, Piper brought down her full body weight in a brutal right hook aimed straight for Cyclonis' head.

**SMACK!**

The sound of bone impacting bone rang out in the otherwise still evening. Cyclonis had used the momentum of her kick to spin herself about bringing her left fist to meet Pipers right with bone breaking force. Piper stumbled backwards clutching her broken hand tightly to her chest. Cyclonis, however seemed to shake it off rather quickly.

"Impressive force on that I must say. I'll surely have a bruise later."

'God, that was like punching a freaking carrier!' Piper wailed internally, 'And she doesn't even look like she felt it! Something fishy's going on here.'

"I thought there weren't going to be any crystals used Cyclonis!" Piper called with a bravado she wasn't feeling.

"Oh there aren't." Cyclonis launched another salvo of blows Piper just narrowly managed to dodge. "I simply will not be holding myself this time. I feel I have a fairly firm understanding of your style and ability." A vicious kick struck Piper in the stomach, winding her and sending her flying backwards.

"And I don't feel any need to play games anymore."

With moves so fast Piper could barely see them, Cyclonis struck at her, driving her back yet again. Charging in for the follow up, Cyclonis looked ready to finish Piper off. Instead of dodging again Piper deflected the powerful punch with her right forearm and answered with her own left. The blow made contact with Cyclonis' face. A small twinge of inexplicable guilt went through her at that but she ignored as Cyclonis seemed to recover.

"Phtoow." Cyclonis spat the small amount of blood from where her teeth had cut into her lip. "There we go Piper!" Cyclonis voice was oily with false encouragement.

"I knew you had some _**violence**_ in you."

'That hit should have done more than that!' Piper thought outraged. 'It was a clean connection; she should have at least fallen!'

"It doesn't have to be like this Lark!"

"Oh?" Cyclonis seemed mildly amused by the prospect.

"I don't want to fight you."

"Of course you don't, I wouldn't want to fight me either" The pale girl was positively laughing at this point.

"You think I don't remember that night, with that picture of your mother?"

All the amusement drained from Cyclonis countenance instantly.

"I saw you vulnerable Lark, I saw you cry, as much as you'd like to, you can't change that. You don't have to hide that you're a good person Lark, you shouldn't hide it."

"My, my, my, aren't we good at these little motivational speeches." Cyclonis scoffed. "So you see me in one moment of weakness, you think you can stop me now?"

"I think that it's not too late for you to change to forgive to lo… move on"

"So it's that easy is it" The pale girl seemed to be becoming almost hysterical now "Just forgive and forget? Just let the bastards who took my mother away…, just move on? I don't think so." The last word was punctuated by a high snap kick which Piper blocked and answered with a sweeping move Cyclonis jumped back away from.

"I know you care Lark," a flurry of strikes and blocks interrupted her. "You've saved my life twice now, not to mention how you've obviously held back in every fight we've had.

Forgetting about her hand in the adrenaline rush, Piper threw a jab with her right hand. Cyclonis ducked out of the way, despite knowing it would hurt Piper far more than her. "You think that means anything? I saved you to suit my own purposes, not out of concern." She struck at Pipers face and was blocked.

Tackling her adversary gracelessly, Piper managed to pin Cyclonis to the ground. "Bull. You saved me because you saw someone who could be your equal, someone who could understand enough about you to be your friend, someone who would care about you, without fearing you." Cyclonis struggled against Piper's hold almost desperately. "And you know what? I think you were right." Cyclonis' movements stopped as she stared up into the golden eyes of her former friend. "The Lark that saved me from that storm is still in there I know she is. I wish you would let her out once in a while." Tears pooled in Piper's eyes. "I miss my best friend Lark. I know she misses me." Cyclonis couldn't help the angry, sad, desperate tears that leaked from her eyes.

Unable to stop the admission from slipping past her lips, Lark sighed "I do. I do miss you. I miss you every second of the day." Her eyes hardened. "But you made your choice. I could have given you everything, anything, knowledge, power, whatever your heart desired. Instead you stay with _**them**_!"

Cyclonis' eyes glowed purple with her rage. She threw all of her strength into one powerful bucking motion, throwing Piper into the air. She kicked out with both feet catching Piper in the stomach, driving her even further upwards. Following the momentum of her attack upwards, she flipped forward landing solidly on the ground. Cyclonis spun and kicked the dark skinned girl in mid air sending her careening backwards into the solid rock cliff face. Two bright red energy pulses followed Piper to where she hit. Extending into long thin strips, the crystal energy wrapped around Pipers feet and abdomen, pinning her to the wall

The barely conscious Piper tried to muster a protest. "Bu…but…you…you said no…no… "

Cyclonis smirked. "Yes I did say no crystals would be used in our fight. Fights over, I won" The dark ruler of Cyclonia smiled evilly. "And you know what they say, 'To the victor go the spoils.'" Master Cyclonis pulled out a small, black crystal and jammed it violently into Pipers chest. A bright light emitted from the crystal, burning through Pipers armor like it wasn't even there. The beleaguered Storm Hawk shrieked in agony before falling limp in her bonds.

Releasing the bonds holding her blue haired counterpart, Cyclonis caught her gently keeping her from falling to the ground. Carrying Piper gingerly to her near useless heliscooter, the raven haired girl laid her softly onto the ground. Putting her hand out palm up, Cyclonis summoned a pure white crystal to her. Holding the tiny gem between her thumb and forefinger, Cyclonis ran it slowly over Pipers whole body, seeming to stop at her right hand stomach and chest. Her work seemingly done, the pale girl transformed the small white gem into a larger orange one and cocked her head to one side.

An explosion rang quietly in the distance followed by a muffled girlish scream. 'The blond buffoon being shot down.' Cyclonis thought as she made the first check on the list in her mind. Two more small explosions. 'Ravess and Snipe being tricked into shooting themselves down somehow.' Frustrated, unintelligible screaming. 'Dark Ace realizing he's outnumbered and has to retreat.' That being her cue, Cyclonis brushed a stray hair from the dark skinned girls face.

"Until next time, my…friend."

And she smashed the crystal into the ground, disappearing into thin air.

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Several minutes later the condor appeared out of the clouds near the small cliff face. Aerrow and Junko's skimmers flew down and landed near Pipers wrecked craft.

"PIPER!" Aerrow screamed, spotting his teammate lying in the dirt next to craft. Rushing to their fallen friend's side they checked for injuries. Thankfully she seemed okay, but it didn't look like she was going to be waking up any time soon.

"Oh, man! What'd Cyclonis do to her?" Finn was almost beside himself.

"I don't know." Aerrow shook his head in frustrated confusion. "It doesn't look like she's injured, but she's unconscious. I just don't get it!"

"I think we should focus on getting her to the infirmary right now." Junko said as he hefted Piper gingerly.

Loading her onto Aerrow's skimmer the boys ferried their wounded squad mate back to the safety of The Condor. They might be able to get the story out of her when she woke up.

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A little over an hour later Piper was finally waking up in an unfamiliar bed, feeling like she had just stuffed a full box of cotton balls into her mouth. Vision still blurred heavily, she moved to lever herself up on the bed but was restrained by a hand clasping her own. She struggled to speak through the feeling in her mouth, only managing a small whisper. "L…Lark?"

"Hey Piper!" Aerrow missed what she had mumbled. "Good to see you awake again."

Piper blinked away some of the blurriness in her eyes and took in the room around her. All her friends were there at her bedside, watching over her.

"Hey guys, what I miss?" The boys chuckled, looking nervous but relieved.

"What happened Piper? You just disappear in the middle of a fight and then we find you unconscious on some mountain?"

"Cyclonis was on my tail, so I…I flew down to that false peak thing, trying to get her into hand to hand. She…shot my…left stabilizer. I went out of control but took out one of her wings. We landed and we fought and she…she beat me, fair and square. I… don't really understand it all yet, but…" She trailed off realizing which hand Aerrow was holding. "Hey, how come that doesn't hurt?" She gestured to the team leaders grip on her.

Aerrow released his grip quickly. "What do you mean Piper?"

"I swear, a couple of fingers, at least got broken in the fight. Why don't they hurt?"

Junko was confused. "Other then the whole unconscious thingy, you didn't have any injuries."

"That's not possible, I remember, my fingers got broken, my ribs were bruised I'm pretty sure and…"

"He's telling the truth Piper, you got nothin' wrong with you." Finn tried to calm Piper down.

'Something's wrong here, why aren't I hurt? It was a brutal fight, I should be sore all over but other than the grogginess I feel fine.'

"Well I guess I'll just chalk it up to a miracle then." Piper smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way as she lifted herself from the bed intending to sneak back to her quarters to ponder the day's events. The boys blocked off the exit before she could even get up all the way up.

"No way Piper you have to stay in the infirmary for at least tonight. We don't if you're out of the woods yet."

"C'mon Aerrow, I feel fine, I just want to sleep in my own bed."

"I know that Piper but you'd be much safer if…"

"I'm _fine_, I just…"

"I know you think that it's just I…"

"_**MOVE!**_" Piper's frustration finally boiled over onto her squad mates. Shocked at the darkness he heard in their friend's voice, the male Storm Hawks moved out of Piper's way with no conscious thought. The irate girl stalked past them and headed for her quarters. Entering her sanctuary Piper locked the door behind her and went to brace herself on the crystal cupboard. Sucking in a deep, shuddering breath she managed to calm herself a small amount.

'What was _that?_' She wondered to herself. 'Yeah, they were getting on my nerves but I really overreacted. I sounded almost like…" Piper got distracted from her thought by something strange in her mirror. It looked like a letter, about an inch high and maybe half an inch wide. Piper reached for the mirror only to see the letter shift with her movements. It was on _her _not the mirror. Piper immediately shucked off the top half of her armor.

"No. NO. NoNoNoNoNoNo NO!" There, right over her heart, were three words in small black letters.

"**I've got you."**

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A/N: Ahhhhh, there we go, this was the one I had fun with, I hope you like it!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I wonder how many people still remember episode six? If you're not one of them, watch it again and pay special attention to when they're in the storm at the beginning. You'll know why.

I've Got You

Chapter 6

A shrieking cry of purest agony rang through the dark, deserted halls adjacent to Master Cyclonis' chamber.

Cyclonis clutched her left hand to her chest, as if shielding the bared flesh there. Her right arm was rapped bracingly around an ornately carved post at the foot of an enormous bed. In her right hand was a small black crystal, gripped so tightly small droplets of blood stained its shining surface. She remained hunched over practically clinging to the solid wooden piece for what seemed to her like an eternity. Recovering enough that the bedpost was no longer the only thing holding her up, the pale girl eased herself away from her support and gingerly made her way to the elaborately detailed bureau at the opposite end of the room.

Coming up to the waist high mirror perched above the bureau, Cyclonis leveled an appraising look at herself. She was even paler than usual, almost completely white, her body was still trembling from the pain. Her normally chill violet eyes were dull with fatigue, an angry red mark emanated out from her chest directly over her heart. Lark took in her bedraggled appearance with a look of utter revulsion. 'Some great and powerful ruler you are.' Her reflection scoffed at her. 'You're mother would be mortified at your weakness!' Cyclonis recoiled from the mirror. 'Look at what you've done to yourself! For her! The shame you bring upon yourself, all in the name of some stupid teenage infatuation! You're a coward, a failure!'

'You're NOTHING!'

Cyclonis slid to her knees, pressing her forehead against the oaken bureau as she clenched her teeth against the tears. "I can't help it! I can't! I can't make it stop! I can't make what I feel for her go away! It's so foolish but I can't stop it, I can't stop loving her! I'm so sorry Mother! I'm weak, I'm a disgrace to you, to our whole line." Putting a hand to her chest she traced the three small words there as if seeking comfort. The letters were small, not even half a finger tall, yet the feelings held in those jet black lines were enough to lay low the most powerful person in the entirety of Atmos. Three miserable little words.

'**Who's got me?'**

**________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

Piper writhed on the floor of her quarters, clutching at her chest as if trying to burrow her fingers into her skin. Her face was contorted in silent agony, the suddenness of the attack having stolen her voice momentarily. It felt like molten metal was being poured through the accursed tattoo she had been marked with. Finally the pain began to subside slowly and the blue haired girl was left panting on the cool metallic floor of her room. Brushing a bead of sweat from her brow and the trail of tears from her cheeks, Piper gingerly sat up still covering the exposed skin of her chest protectively with one hand. Hunching over the dark skinned girl clenched down on a wave of nausea protesting the motion.

'What the hell is happening to me!?'

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"ETA 10 minutes on the mysterious rendezvous point and probable trap." Stork said to his squad leader.

"Good, do a sweep of the area before we set down, if this is a trap I want to know before we even get to the hangar." Aerrow responded looking pensive.

"That's awfully cautious of you fearless leader, what's wrong?"

"It's... probably nothing, it's just, do you think Piper's been acting...weird lately?

Stork leveled a disbelieving look at him. "Do you mean tossing Finn out of the Condors trash shoot, chasing Radarr around with her staff because he supposedly 'was furry near her', or the new creepy double voice thing she does when she's REALLY mad?"

"So you have noticed something?" Aerrow questioned excitedly.

"Guh!" Stork banged his head against the steering console, exasperated.

Alarm bells sounded off in the bridge. "Well there's the trap part. For future reference, we're doomed."

"Incoming Talons!" Aerrow shouted as he ran for the ships hangar. Finn and Junko leapt off the small couch they had been vegetating on.

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In the air the StormHawks had proved themselves to be invincible time and time again. They destroyed even the most elite Talon squadrons with ease, as well as effectively neutralizing Ravess, Snipe, and Master Cyclonis' personal guard, The Dark Ace. No one could even compete with them. Or so they thought.

Moments into the battle the air around the Condor was bursting with explosions and screams of terror from the pilot who had just barely evaded. Piper was locked in a deadly game of cat and mouse with 2 Talons constantly flanking and maneuvering her into a crossfire kill-zone. She could barely get a shot off with them constantly either on her tail or coming up from one side. Corkscrewing Upwards Piper made sure her opponents were tailing her before cutting her engines, allowing herself to plummet backwards into striking range. Lashing out with her staff Piper managed to put a burst of energy into one of her pursuers. It wasn't enough to down him though.

Finn, who was having a good day by his standards had actually managed to stay on his Skimmer so far, but the future prospects weren't looking so good. Just barely reacting in time he managed to dodge and attempted close-line by on of the enemy pilots coming in from ahead of him. This was ridiculous! Theses guys didn't even look like talon pilots. Everyone they had fought so far was lanky, their movements slow and their reactions sluggish. Hell sometimes you could see their stupidity from behind their helmets. These guys though, were muscly, their flight patterns well executed and had lightning quick reflexes.

"What is up with these Talons man!"

Having his own problems Aerrow fired off a few shot from his energy blades while barely dodging the counter volley. He had managed to destroy one of the for fighters that had originally come after him but had lost 30% thrust in his right engine when, as soon as he leapt off to destroy the Talons Skimmer, another came and began firing at his ride. He had yet to get another opportunity since. They couldn't go on like this. Junko was the only one who didn't look like he was about to tweak out of his head from the stress and he only had one guy on him. Wait a second...

Junko, unlike his teammates, was merely frustrated at his lack of progress, he had been chasing this guy since the beginning of the battle and had yet to even put a dent in him. Every maneuver was countered, every attack dodged, and the Talon hadn't even fired a shot yet. Junko fired a few rounds attempting to force his opponent to turn, maybe slowing him down enough to come in range of his Knuckle Busters. Hearing engine noises off to his right, Junko turned only to see Aerrow coming right at him.

"AAAGHAAGHAGAHGAHGAH" He screamed lashing out with a hard right. His fist impacted solidly with the Talon behind Aerrow who hadn't noticed the trap in his fervor to down the legendary Sky Knight leader. A piece of shrapnel from the resulting explosion fired off into space shredding Finn's Skimmer in two. "Oh Man!' He cried as he fell landing crotch first on the seat of Junko's Skimmer. "Hey buddy, how's it going?"

In the confusion Piper had managed to plant 2 direct hits in the right stabilizer of the Talon that Junko had been chasing, sending him into a corkscrew. Forced to dodge out of the way of his beleaguered teammate, one of the Talons tailing Piper dodged high, only to have to corkscrew out of the way of an attack volley from Aerrow. A small explosion and the jerking of his skimmer meant that he had been met with limited success.

25 minutes of harsh battle and of the original 7 Talons that had attacked them 2 had been downed and 3 more were damaged. The StormHawks were down 1 Skimmer and Aerrow's ride was holding together purely by the force of Radarr's will.

"This is so Stupid," Piper raged in her head. As she ducked yet another well executed attack. "How dare these fool's think to challenge ME!" Piper felt a darkness totally unlike anything she had ever experienced rise in her. An evil smirk settled over the blue haired girls features. "I will show them the folly of trifling with my _**PATIENCE!**_" Standing upright on her heli -scooter Piper spread her arms wide, as if inviting an attack.

"PIPER!" Aerrow screamed trying to get her attention before the Talons finally closed in for the kill. Piper ignored him completely as her body began to glow violet. Just as the first Talon made it within striking range Piper smirked and turned towards him. Raising a hand negligently, she fired off a burst of energy, blowing apart the Skimmer almost immediately. Whipping around Piper put up a force field that blocked several incoming shots before destroying her attacker with significantly more force. Seeing that the battle had turned for the worse, the remaining 2 Talons turned to flee, only to have their skimmers blown out from underneath them.

"_**FOOLS!' **_Piper crowed arrogantly. "How dare you turn against your master! No one is powerful enough to stop Cyclonia! We...will..conquer...you...all." Piper slumped bonelessly into her seat, utterly exhausted.

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In her chamber Cyclonis had been pacing, her anger spilling out, destroying any object that got to near. Where was this coming from. This wasn't her rage. She had been in the depths of depression mere moments ago and now she was contemplating using her guards as target practice.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!"

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A/N: I apologize for the extremely long wait between updates, life gets away from me sometimes. I still fully intend to finish this story, however, for those of you who enjoy it.


	7. Chapter 7

Betcha weren't planning on hearing from me again were ya? Well guess what I'M BAAACK!!!

Cyclonis 7

The male Storm Hawks met on the bridge a half hour after the battle, with Piper under observation in the infirmary.

"Okay, we need a sit-rep what do we know?" Aerrow said to the group, his eyes tired and body slumped.

"Piper's completely insane." Finn said, still a little sore from the trash chute incident.

"The Talons are getting steroid treatments or something." Junko added rubbing his arm were a stray shot had grazed him.

"And we're all doomed" Stork said manner of factly from beneath the steering console.

Aerrow rubbed the bridge of his nose frustratedly. How had things spun out of control so fast?

"Sorry to interrupt your brooding fearless leader but we have an incoming hail." Stork called from somewhere in the condor's inner workings.

"Patch it in"

The boys turned towards the communication panel as one. When the hailer appeared one the screen they were shocked. Before them was a huge man, Junko's size or larger, his face peppered with scares from harsh combat in unforgiving conditions. His rigidly trimmed hair and intense eyes gave him an aura of strength that intimidated the crew of the Condor even through a video feed.

"So very good to see you today StormHawks," His voice was gravely and deep." I apologize for the rather... warm welcome, but we had to be sure it was truly you and not some fool lackey's of Cyclonis'." His deep frown belied the sincerity of his words.

"You could of just asked!" Finn couldn't stop himself from blurting.

The large man chuckled lightly at the outburst. "As effective as I'm sure that method would have been I chose a more direct path."

"Who are you and what is it you want." Aerrow stepped forward ready to move on with the discussion.

"I forgot to introduce myself, how very rude. I am Admiral Rife of the 3rd Cyclonian Flotilla. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"So you're the leader of the Cyclonian resistance forces?" Aerrow felt hope rise up in him, this man was obviously a powerful warrior, he would certainly be a great ally.

"I wouldn't use so formal or so obvious a name but yes, I as well as some like minded individuals feel Master Cyclonis is not what is best for Cyclonia right now."

"Alright, then what did you contact us for?"

The admiral sighed."As much as it pains me to admit it, your team are the only warriors who have had any success in fighting Cyclonis directly."

Aerrow's brow knitted in confusion. "How? I mean we've fought hard sure. But Cyclonis isn't that tough."

Rife laughed openly."Cyclonis is one the most powerful combatants alive. Her crystal powers render all ships and weapons useless, her ability to plan and strategize are unmatched, as well as having been trained as an expert martial artist by myself and many others from a very young age. No one previous to your interesting group has ever had any considerable success against her. In fact, though the previous StormHawks, despite the betrayal from the junior pilot who would be later known as Dark Ace, managed to defeat the previous Cyclonis, it was the current Cyclonis that eliminated them."

"No! That would mean..."

Rife smirked slightly "Yes Aerrow, the current Master Cyclonis, is the person who killed your parents."

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Visions flashed in front of Piper's closed eyes as she tossed and turned in her infirmary bed. She saw a little girl, not even into her double digits yet, leaning forward against a pillar of some type, her arms around it pressing a doll into it at the crook of her elbow.

She was afraid, afraid of the bad men that were coming to hurt her and her mommy, afraid of how mad her mommy looked right now. She wanted to leave, to go to the little clearing set up in the castle, just for her, and play dollies. She didn't want this.

The girl cried out as the wall at the far end of the throne room was blasted open. Her momma didn't even flinch. She was expecting this.

"_It's over Cyclonis! Your reign of terror ends today!" _A grown up with spiky red hair shouted at her momma.

"_How cute" _Momma was using her scary voice again. She hated the scary voice. "_The __Stormhawks__ think they can beat me. Tell me, how many men did you lose just getting this far?"_

The man with the red hair looked really mad after that. He turned red and growled at my momma. He's actually gonna try and hurt her!

_"I've had enough of the cat and mouse Cyclonis" _He pulled out dual crystal blades igniting their power as they unsheathed. Despite her fear the girl was mesmerized by the crystal energy as she always had been.

The three others behind him brought their own weapons out and they leapt. The explosions that followed terrified the girl. She covered her head, clenching her dolly tightly as she screamed. Debris flew everywhere, a bolt of energy hit the pillar right above her head, making her jump and starting her crying. There was so much screaming, so much noise, so much pain. The girl curled into her self, still hugging the doll tightly as she prayed for it to end. After what felt to her like days the noises stopped and she finally managed the courage to look at the aftermath.

She saw destruction like she had never bared witness to. The throne room was in shambles. Mortar and twisted metal littered the ground, huge gouges of material had been torn from the wall and ceilings. The actual throne was in so many pieces it was unrecognizable, that is, if the girl had bothered to notice it.

As it stood the only thing that mattered to the girl was what she saw in the center of the room. There, amidst the debris, was her mother. The girl crawled to her slowly.

"_Mommy? Mommy?" _ She had never seen her mother lay down like this before. Coming to rest beside her mothers prone form she reached out and shook her arm gently.

"_Mommy? You have to wake up now. Come on Mommy you have to wake up!" _

Tears poured down her cheeks as she shook her mother harder and harder, crying louder and louder. But no matter what she did her mother wouldn't wake up.

"_What are we supposed to do with her?" _The voice had the girls head snapping up. The bad people were still here?

"_We can't just kill a child. Even if it is _Her _child, we'll bring her with us." _The man with the red hair responded as he walked toward her.

'They killed momma. They _killed _momma! NO! No NO NO NO NO NO!' She shook the body harder. "_Please momma you have to wake up! The bad men are still here you have to wake up!"_

The red haired man knelt down to her. "_I'm sorry little one, but she's gone." _He reached out a hand and touched her shoulder gently

"_**NO!" **_The red haired man and his friends were blasted backwards as a crackling aura appeared around the girls small body. "_**YOU KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER!"**_The air started to crackle ominously as raw destructive power flowed outward from the girl's small body.

"_We have to stop her!" _One of the Storm Hawks shouted over the roaring power. The red haired man braced and leapt toward her, he didn't want to hurt the girl but at this point it was her or them. He got close enough to see the darkness clouding her eyes before she raised her arms forward, dropping her beloved doll to the ground as she did. "_**NOW YOU DIE." **_

Energy surged forward scorching everything in it's path, scorching the StormHawks, one after another they were vaporized, infernal heat and ash their only legacy. Dropping her hands to her sides, Master Cyclonis spun on her heal and left without even a parting glance.

The little doll, once so loved and cherished, burned forgotten on what remained on the throne room floor.

Piper awoke screaming, crying, bathed in cold sweat.

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What d'ya think? Hope it's not too bad.


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